Appaeattjs fob feeding sawdust to ftje-naces



Ma a Mii mw NA PETERS. PHOTQUWOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON` D C.

UNITED STATES PATENI4 OFFICE.

JAMES I. WIGAL, OF HENDERSON, KENTUCKY.

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SAWDUST TO FUR-NACES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,226, dated May 8, 1860.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES P. IVIGAL, of Henderson, in the county ofHenderson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Devicefor Feeding Sawdust, Sac., to Furnaces; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact de scription of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, represents a rear elevation of myinvention, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal vertical section of ditto.

Similar letters of reference in both views indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in a box that extends over the whole width ofthe furnace, communicating with the same on either end by two flap doorsin combination with a sliding piston and counter weights in such amanner that saw-dust fed to the box is alternately discharged throughone and through the other of the openings at the ends of the box, saidflap doors being opened as the piston advances toward the same, andclosed when the piston recedes.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation with reference to thedrawings.

A represents the furnace erected around a steamboiler B, which is heatedby a fire in a suitable grate or fireplace in the usual manner. On thetop of this furnace and extending over its whole width or nearly so,isthe box C, made of cast iron or of any other suitable material andprovided with a hopper D, in its center, to receive the sawdust or otherfuel of a similar nature. The cross section of this box is square oroblong and its ends are inclined as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The bottomof this box is perforated with apertures a, a', which communicate withthe interior of the furnace. Flap doors E, E', which are suspended fromcross bars b', serve to open or close said apertures, and the cross-barsb Z9', turn on pivots in the upper corners of the box C. The bearings ofsaid pivots are beyond the edges of the apertures c, a, so that the trapdoors when left free to follow the action of their gravity, assume sucha position that the apertures a, a, are left open. In order to keep themclosed, counterweights F, F, are arranged on arms c, c', which aresecured to the pivots from which the fiap interior of the box C, and thefurnace A.

A piston G is fitted nicely into the box C, and an arm CZ, which extendsthrough a slot e, in the rear wall of the box, serves to impart motionto the piston. The arm d, is secured to a sliding frame H, which movesbetween suitable guides e, attached to the rear wall f, of the box C,and as the frame moves toward one side or toward the other, cams f, f,attached to its ends by coming in contact with friction rollers g, g, onthe Weighted arms c, c, serve to open the flap doors E, E.

A reciprocating mot-ion is imparted to the frame H by means of a pinionI, mounted on one end of a rotary shaft 71,. The end of this shaftnearest the pinionI, turns in one of the arms z', of a three-armed leveri, j, lc, which swings on a pivot Z, passing through the arm c, andsecured in the rear wall of the box C. The middle arm y', of this leverextends upward behind the frame H, and guides e, and it is provided witha spring catch m, that serves to retain said arm in an inclined positionby catching into notches u, a, on the top edge of the upper guide e.These notches are so arranged that when the catch m, is in the notch n,the pinion I, is thrown in gear with the lower one of two toothed racksJ, J, which are formed on the inside of the frame H, as clearly shown inFig. l, and if the spring catch m, catches into the notch n the pinionI, is thrown in gear with the upper rack J', whereby the rotary motionof the pinion is converted into a reciprocating motion of the frame.

The motion of the lever z', j, le, with the pinion I, is renderedautomatical by means of spring bars K, K, secured to the upper edge ofthe sliding frame H, and pins o, o', projecting from the opposite endsof said bars by catching over the edge of the arm y', of the lever z',j, It, serve to gather up the springs of the spring bars so as to throwsaid arm suddenly in one direction or in the other as soon as the catchm, is disengaged from the notches a, n. The operation of disengaging thecatch m, is effected by dogs p, p', secured to the ends of the slidingframe H. The upper edges of said dogs are inclined, so that they catchunder a roller g, that projects from the spr-ing catch m, and as themotion of the frame progresses, the catch is released from the notchwhich previously retained it and the arm j, is now thrown to one side orto the other, by the action of one of the spring bars K, K', so as tobring the pinion I, to gear with the rack opposite to the one from whichit passes of and as the pinion turns in the direction of the arrowmarked on the same the motion of the frame H, takes place in thedirection of arrow l, if the pinion gears into the lower rack J, and inthe direction of arrow 2 if the pinion is in gear with the upper rack J.By these means the saw-dust which is introduced into the box C, throughthe hopper D, is carried toward the aperture a if the piston G', movesin the direction of arrow 2, and toward the aperture a', if the pistonmoves in the di rection of arrow l, and the flap doors E, E', are thrownopen by the pressure of the saw-dust against them, and also by theagency of the cams f, f, as the piston ad- What I claim as new, anddesire to securel by Letters Patent, is,

The arrangement of Vthe automatically closing flap doors E, E', incombination with the reciprocating piston G, and box C, constructed andoperating substantiallyas and for the purpose described.

- JAMES P. WIGAL. Witnesses:

N. C. HOWARD, A. T. GooDE.

